The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) has today, at the UN Human Rights Council, called for the abolition of laws that allow men to rape girls and women to escape conviction by subsequently marrying the victim. During a discussion of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, IHEU representative, Kacem El Ghazzali (on behalf of IHEU Director of [...][Continue Reading...]

During an interactive dialogue with the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, IHEU highlighted how the right to freedom of religion or belief and associated practices have been weaponised by some states at the UN and at home, to undermine human rights they dislike (e.g. those of women and LGBTI people). In her statement the [...][Continue Reading...]

Child sacrifice, discrimination against LGBTI people, high maternal mortality and hostility to NGOs. These were four key concerns highlighted by the IHEU at the UN Human Rights Council yesterday. During a review of Uganda’s human rights record, Elizabeth O’Casey – on behalf of the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) – expressed deep concern at [...][Continue Reading...]

The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) today, in cooperation with member organisation, Sidmennt (the Icelandic Ethical Humanist Association) and partner, European Humanist Federation, praised Iceland for having abolished its blasphemy law last year and for providing an example of good practice to other states. During a UN human rights review – “Universal Period Review” (UPR) – [...][Continue Reading...]

In a discussion of a UN report on the issue of extremism and cultural rights at the UN Human Rights Council this week, the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) called on the Council to better protect and cherish artistic expression and scientific enquiry in the face of fundamentalism. The report, by the Special Rapporteur in the field [...][Continue Reading...]

In its first statement at the 34th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) raised the issue of anti-blasphemy laws around the world and their grave impact on people’s lives, fundamental freedoms and human rights. In a statement made during an interactive dialogue on the first report by [...][Continue Reading...]

On Sunday (25th September), Christian writer and political activist, Nahed Hattar, was murdered on the steps of a law court in Jordan after having shared a satirical cartoon mocking an ISIS soldier and his beliefs. Hattar was on his way to attend a court hearing because of the cartoon. He had turned himself in in [...][Continue Reading...]

After calling out France at the UN for rhetoric used by many of its officials during the ‘burkini’ debate, IHEU director of advocacy, Elizabeth O’Casey, blogs about the reasons she thought this an important issue for an organisation like the IHEU to raise at the Human Rights Council. For my first intervention at the 33rd session of [...][Continue Reading...]

At the UN a group of humanist NGOs have called on Greece to decriminalise blasphemy in the country and ensure that incitement to racial hatred is outlawed. During the 33rd session of the UN Human Rights Council, Cordelia Tucker O’Sullivan, on behalf of the Humanist Union of Greece (HUG), the British Humanist Association (BHA), the European [...][Continue Reading...]

During a debate on racism and discrimination at the UN Human Rights Council, Swati Kamble a Dalit woman representing the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), raised the plight of Dalits in India under current extremist nationalist conditions. Kamble, noted that whilst “Dalits have been facing the brunt of caste discrimination for centuries […] since the formation [...][Continue Reading...]